Little Thing
by Logan not here
Summary: Communication is a very important thing. When absent it can hurt. When applied with the best of intentions it can get the job done. Fluffy stuff and Judith being magnificent.


"Oof!"

"Mm- Oh! W-welcome home. What- what time is it?"

"Urgh."

"Rita, you're soaking wet!"

. . .

"Not in this bed you're not! Get changed now!"

"Argh, do I have to?"

"Yes! I'm not about to let you catch a cold. Nor am I going to catch one on your behalf."

Grumbling, sliding off the bed, shuffling in the daze, stubbing a toe against the bedside table. Hissing, cursing, and more grumbling. Outside, lightning flashes and the force of the storm shakes the house.

"Honestly what were you thinking, Rita?"

Shuffling. Struggling. Wet clothes are a hassle to remove, which is why it was better to just leave it be . . .

"Traveling from Aspio in the middle of a night, during a storm!, is too much even for you, Rita."

"Estelle, relax. I made it here in one piece, alright?"

Flop. The bed shifts and creaks. Branches whip against the window shutters. For a few seconds, the wind's constant shrieking drops to a low buzzing before picking up even more fiercely.

"Nnrgh, turn off the light, Estelle."

No reply, but the room drops into darkness.

"Ah the power must have gone out."

"Just great. One pain in the ass after another."

"I was only worried, Rita."

She picks her head up from her flopped face-down position to see the other girl turn her back on her.

In the dark, the crashes and booms of the storm are only louder. In the silence, the gap between them saps away all the warmth in the bed.

God damn. She messed up.

"I just wanted to get back quicker to see you," she almost says, but she does not.

She turns around and faces the other way.

* * *

"And? What do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to help me, dammit!"

"It's not my problem you two are having a tiff."

"No. It's. Not. I'm _asking_ you to help me."

"We~ell."

. . .

"How can I not, seeing your cute pouting face?"

"You-"

"First of all, have you tried apologizing?"

"I- No. She was already gone when I woke up. Honestly, that girl. Didn't even leave a note or anything, almost had me panicking when I couldn't find her."

"You couldn't help it. You were only worried."

"That's right!"

"And that's no reason to act like a brat about it when someone is thinking about you every second of their time and worrying about your safety. My goodness Estelle is such a selfish little girl."

"Tha- Ah."

"Isn't that right, Rita?"

"You know, Judith, sometimes I really hate you."

"Oh Rita, your warped way of hiding your true feelings is just so precious."

* * *

The door opens and shuts. Rita sits up. The heavy tome in her lap all but forgotten. She's been waiting for hours for her to get back. Shuffling in the hallway. Estelle walks past the doorway without a greeting or so much as glancing in. Ouch. This is the coldest she's ever seen Estelle. Before, she didn't think Estelle was even capable of it. Rita panics and scrambles to get up.

She finds Estelle shuffling around the kitchen, probably getting dinner together.

"H-hey, Estelle- I, uh- Wait- W-would you- Estelle!"

In desperation, she grabs Estelle's wrist before the girl can walk past her again, jerking her into a stop and spinning her around. Upon finally seeing Estelle face to face again, Rita feels her chest pounding in a way reminiscent of the the first stage to breaking down into tears, which entail: chest pounding, body trembling, words turning into incoherent gurgles, then the waterworks.

Estelle looks surprised, but her expression is rapidly changing into impassiveness.

Rita swallows her hesitancy and her words rush out like a leak in a pipe.

"I'm sorry, Estelle, for being such a selfish brat. I know that you only nag- I mean worry, because you care and I'm actually really h-happy that you would care for someone like me. I mean, I'm not making excuses or anything, but I didn't have very many people in my life like you and dammit that was an excuse, but the point is you're the most important person in my life and I care a lot about you too-"

The rest of her words are muffled and it takes her a few more seconds to realize Estelle's pulled her into a tight, warm hug, rubbing her cheek affectionately against Rita's own.

"Oh Rita."

There's just no more words left in her to describe the relief and rapidly growing happiness warming her inside.

Estelle pulls back and Rita almost starts in surprise to see the other girl's eyes shimmering. She looks like she was going to cry!

"I'm so, so sorry too, Rita. I know you were just being yourself, but I missed you so much that I took what you said and interpreted it as you having gotten tired of me. And that hurt me, but I didn't have the courage to face you just in case I was wrong and only making a fool of myself. So I went to Judith for advice and she told me to-"

"Stop."

"Eh?"

"I think I know where this is going."

Estelle blinks in her usual naïve way. "Where is it going?"

Rita almost outright grins, but checks herself just in time to turn her head away. Take the princess out of the castle, but she's still going to bring some of the castle with her.

"It's going to end up with that damn dragon freak learning what a fireball tastes like."

"What-"

"C'mon, Estelle!"

"Ah wait- Rita!"

"Ooh just wait until I get my hands on that smart-ass Krityan."

"Rita!"

* * *

I'm thinking about writing a semi-AU JudithEstelle short. And here I thought I was a devout Ristelle follower.


End file.
